mchance1
01-06-2007, 11:05 AM
Very few coaches in the NFL have strong winning records . The reason is , this is hard, as evidenced by Denny's problems here. The following article is from the Packers history and documents Shermans job there. He endured multiple injuries each year and yet compiled a 53-27 record in 4 years before being dismissed after one poor year in which injuries took the skill players from the lineup.
I believe the cards have more skill than these Packer teams and Sherman is the right guy to put the players in a position to win!! No other candidate has this type of track record. As a result - this choice is easy.
Chapter 14: The Sherman Tenure
After searching more than two weeks, Wolf surprised many NFL observers by naming Mike Sherman, the Seahawks' offensive coordinator and Green Bay's tight ends coach from 1997-98, as the Packers' 13th head coach, January 18, 2000. Sherman in 2000 surmounted multiple injuries, including Favre's prolonged bout with elbow tendinitis, and finished 9-7, inches from the playoffs.
The Packers defeated more teams with winning records (six) than anyone in the league, went 5-2 against playoff teams and rediscovered the Lambeau Field advantage by winning their last five in Green Bay.
One month after that stirring finish, Wolf retired as the team's executive vice president and general manager, February 1, and president Bob Harlan quickly named Sherman to replace Wolf. Sherman became the first head coach with the GM title since Starr in 1980.
Wolf's impressive nine-year tenure included the team's first Super Bowl (1996) in 29 years, back-to-back NFC titles (1996-97), 101 total victories (including eight in the playoffs), eight winning seasons (1992-98, 2000), six straight playoff appearances (1993-98) and the NFL's best regular-season record (83-45) since the 1993 advent of free agency.
Now with full authority over football, Sherman answered in 2001 by returning the Packers to the playoffs, improving his winning percentage to .656 (21-11), best ever over a Packer coach's first two years.
Behind Favre and explosive Ahman Green (1,981 yards from scrimmage) the Packers went 12-4, but couldn't grasp the division title, despite sweeping the division champion Bears.
The Packers knocked off the Niners in a Wild Card playoff, but couldn't get past eventual NFC champion St. Louis.
In 2002, Green Bay overcame an injury-plagued season to tie for the league's best record, 12-4. Despite injured starters missing 63 combined games, the Packers clinched their division, the inaugural NFC North title, on December 1, earlier than any NFL team, and any other year in franchise history (four games remaining).
Favre finished two votes shy of a fourth MVP, and Donald Driver emerged to lead a young receiver corps. Defensively, behind Pro Bowler Darren Sharper, the team ranked third in the NFL against the pass and led the league with 45 takeaways, six more than any other team. What's more, for the first time since 1965, the Packers held at least a share of the league lead in turnover ratio (plus-17).
But Michael Vick and the Falcons became the first team ever to beat the Packers (13-1) at home in the playoffs.
A return to the NFC Championship slipped painfully through the Packers' fingers in 2003. Donovan McNabb led the Eagles to a come-from-behind, 20-17 overtime win to end an emotional Packers run in the Divisional playoffs.
The loss snapped a memorable five-game winning streak. The stretch included changes to three of the most-revered records in Packers history (Forrest Gregg's 33-year-old consecutive-games streak, broken by Favre; Jim Taylor's 41-year-old season rushing record, Green; and Don Hutson's 58-year-old career scoring mark, Ryan Longwell). One day after the death of his father, Favre turned in the best game of his career, throwing for four TDs in a 41-7 win at Oakland. Then, Green Bay captured an improbable division title in the last two minutes of the season, when Arizona upset Minnesota and the Lambeau Field crowd broke the news to the Packers. Green Bay was in position to pass the Vikings thanks to its 7-2 record after the bye.
Green spearheaded the best running offense in Packers history, as the club captured nearly every franchise rushing mark. Favre led the NFL in TD passes a fourth time to tie a league record, throwing 19 of his 32 scores with a broken right thumb.
Adding to the hallmark of Sherman's tenure, the Packers overcame more adversity in 2004 to finish 10-6, winning a third straight division title. After an emotional kickoff-weekend win on a Monday night at Carolina, the defending NFC champion, Green Bay dropped four straight, its roughest start (1-4) since 1991.
But the team answered with a 38-10 win at Detroit, and kicked off a six-game winning streak. In fact, Green Bay went 9-2 down the stretch. Only the league's two best teams, Pittsburgh (11-0) and New England (10-2), had better marks over the season's final 12 weeks. Four of those nine wins came on Longwell's last-second field goals.
One year after erasing the franchise rushing record, most of the same personnel established the team marks for total offense and net passing. The season's peak came on Christmas Eve in Minnesota, when the team captured the division title with a 34-31 win over the Vikings. However, just two weeks later the same Vikings avenged the loss with a 31-17 win in a Wild Card playoff at Lambeau Field.
On January 14, 2005, Harlan restructured the team's football operations, naming Ted Thompson general manager, with full authority over football decisions. Harlan said he based the decision on his belief in a preferred structure -- an individual GM and individual head coach -- not on performance.
Only 37 minutes into the 2005 regular season, the Packers lost leading receiver Javon Walker (knee). In the ensuing weeks, the team also lost starting halfback Green (quadricep) and his top backup Najeh Davenport (ankle) to season-ending injuries, while other injuries limited starting tight end Bubba Franks (knee, back), WR Robert Ferguson (knee) and C Mike Flanagan (sports hernia) for much of the year.
On defense, the Packers ranked seventh overall and were top-ranked against the pass. The team outgained opposing offenses in 12 of 16 games and actually had outscored them through the first 11 games.
Following the season, January 2, saying it was time for a new face to lead the team, Thompson dismissed Sherman.
I believe the cards have more skill than these Packer teams and Sherman is the right guy to put the players in a position to win!! No other candidate has this type of track record. As a result - this choice is easy.
Chapter 14: The Sherman Tenure
After searching more than two weeks, Wolf surprised many NFL observers by naming Mike Sherman, the Seahawks' offensive coordinator and Green Bay's tight ends coach from 1997-98, as the Packers' 13th head coach, January 18, 2000. Sherman in 2000 surmounted multiple injuries, including Favre's prolonged bout with elbow tendinitis, and finished 9-7, inches from the playoffs.
The Packers defeated more teams with winning records (six) than anyone in the league, went 5-2 against playoff teams and rediscovered the Lambeau Field advantage by winning their last five in Green Bay.
One month after that stirring finish, Wolf retired as the team's executive vice president and general manager, February 1, and president Bob Harlan quickly named Sherman to replace Wolf. Sherman became the first head coach with the GM title since Starr in 1980.
Wolf's impressive nine-year tenure included the team's first Super Bowl (1996) in 29 years, back-to-back NFC titles (1996-97), 101 total victories (including eight in the playoffs), eight winning seasons (1992-98, 2000), six straight playoff appearances (1993-98) and the NFL's best regular-season record (83-45) since the 1993 advent of free agency.
Now with full authority over football, Sherman answered in 2001 by returning the Packers to the playoffs, improving his winning percentage to .656 (21-11), best ever over a Packer coach's first two years.
Behind Favre and explosive Ahman Green (1,981 yards from scrimmage) the Packers went 12-4, but couldn't grasp the division title, despite sweeping the division champion Bears.
The Packers knocked off the Niners in a Wild Card playoff, but couldn't get past eventual NFC champion St. Louis.
In 2002, Green Bay overcame an injury-plagued season to tie for the league's best record, 12-4. Despite injured starters missing 63 combined games, the Packers clinched their division, the inaugural NFC North title, on December 1, earlier than any NFL team, and any other year in franchise history (four games remaining).
Favre finished two votes shy of a fourth MVP, and Donald Driver emerged to lead a young receiver corps. Defensively, behind Pro Bowler Darren Sharper, the team ranked third in the NFL against the pass and led the league with 45 takeaways, six more than any other team. What's more, for the first time since 1965, the Packers held at least a share of the league lead in turnover ratio (plus-17).
But Michael Vick and the Falcons became the first team ever to beat the Packers (13-1) at home in the playoffs.
A return to the NFC Championship slipped painfully through the Packers' fingers in 2003. Donovan McNabb led the Eagles to a come-from-behind, 20-17 overtime win to end an emotional Packers run in the Divisional playoffs.
The loss snapped a memorable five-game winning streak. The stretch included changes to three of the most-revered records in Packers history (Forrest Gregg's 33-year-old consecutive-games streak, broken by Favre; Jim Taylor's 41-year-old season rushing record, Green; and Don Hutson's 58-year-old career scoring mark, Ryan Longwell). One day after the death of his father, Favre turned in the best game of his career, throwing for four TDs in a 41-7 win at Oakland. Then, Green Bay captured an improbable division title in the last two minutes of the season, when Arizona upset Minnesota and the Lambeau Field crowd broke the news to the Packers. Green Bay was in position to pass the Vikings thanks to its 7-2 record after the bye.
Green spearheaded the best running offense in Packers history, as the club captured nearly every franchise rushing mark. Favre led the NFL in TD passes a fourth time to tie a league record, throwing 19 of his 32 scores with a broken right thumb.
Adding to the hallmark of Sherman's tenure, the Packers overcame more adversity in 2004 to finish 10-6, winning a third straight division title. After an emotional kickoff-weekend win on a Monday night at Carolina, the defending NFC champion, Green Bay dropped four straight, its roughest start (1-4) since 1991.
But the team answered with a 38-10 win at Detroit, and kicked off a six-game winning streak. In fact, Green Bay went 9-2 down the stretch. Only the league's two best teams, Pittsburgh (11-0) and New England (10-2), had better marks over the season's final 12 weeks. Four of those nine wins came on Longwell's last-second field goals.
One year after erasing the franchise rushing record, most of the same personnel established the team marks for total offense and net passing. The season's peak came on Christmas Eve in Minnesota, when the team captured the division title with a 34-31 win over the Vikings. However, just two weeks later the same Vikings avenged the loss with a 31-17 win in a Wild Card playoff at Lambeau Field.
On January 14, 2005, Harlan restructured the team's football operations, naming Ted Thompson general manager, with full authority over football decisions. Harlan said he based the decision on his belief in a preferred structure -- an individual GM and individual head coach -- not on performance.
Only 37 minutes into the 2005 regular season, the Packers lost leading receiver Javon Walker (knee). In the ensuing weeks, the team also lost starting halfback Green (quadricep) and his top backup Najeh Davenport (ankle) to season-ending injuries, while other injuries limited starting tight end Bubba Franks (knee, back), WR Robert Ferguson (knee) and C Mike Flanagan (sports hernia) for much of the year.
On defense, the Packers ranked seventh overall and were top-ranked against the pass. The team outgained opposing offenses in 12 of 16 games and actually had outscored them through the first 11 games.
Following the season, January 2, saying it was time for a new face to lead the team, Thompson dismissed Sherman.